Time for Change

Andra Van Der Westhuizen
by Andra Van Der Westhuizen
10 Materials
$18
8 Hours
Easy
This unused fireplace has been overlooked for years, it was time to make a change - nothing structural - just a new look.
One evening I sat staring at the fireplace and realised that over the last 10 years or so, it has looked the same - the colour of the walls and the painting that was commissioned for this space, has been in that position since day one. The only items that did get rotated or changed with others, were the few things in front of the fire screen.
I looked around my home for items long forgotten, what left over paint I had etc. - things that could be regenerated to make this much needed change.
The next morning everything was removed - the picture had been done on a piece of pre-cut hard board, not fixed to the wall so it was just a matter of taking it down, wrapping it up and putting it away. And there was this very bland wall!



I found a small tin (about 1 gallon) of left over dark blue paint and started in the middle, painting the alcove only, in case the paint ran out...
As if by magic, there was enough paint to cover the whole area.
Note: I do not particularly like painting and any professional would have had much to say about the type of brushes, strokes, lack of area preparation and  the time I was doing it - after 9PM. icon
The steel surround of the fireplace was discoloured, faded and just not nice, very obvious against the new wall colour. This is an unused fireplace, so I thought: no risk of fire - using shoe polish would be ok - also, I didn't have the any black paint.
Took the shoe brush and buffed the polish - happy with the result.
 
 
A dear friend recently surprised me with this ceramic rose gold skull and I "bedazzled " it with sequins and beads, using wood glue. I have seen these on social media and they are delicately painted with patterns, or have flowers stuck on them - I wanted to try it.


Had to wait for the glue and paint to properly dry, but decided on the position for the skull and drilled the wall for the plug and screw anyway, using the envelope trick to catch the dirt ... was shown this by a builder who knows these things...
Already had these artificial twigs so it was just tied up with a ribbon. The porcupine quills were picked up during a visit to a game farm years ago, and I placed it in a zebra striped pottery cup. These items were placed on the sill of the alcove.
The skull was hung, surrounded by an old picture frame that I tacked onto the wall with No More Nails, the fire screen was removed and pot plants put inside the fire place.
Depending on the season - the plants can be changed up with fresh flowers, logs, bleached pine cones, fairy lights or whatever else I feel like.
Resources for this project:
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  • Rose P Rose P on May 09, 2018

    What color is that in person? It looks like a teal on my computer, I really like it.

  • Dpbeee2 Dpbeee2 on Apr 16, 2019

    I cannot help admiring the beautiful table cover. My mom used to crochet things like that. May I ask where you acquired it?

  • Penny-Marie Penny-Marie on Apr 16, 2019

    What's the wall plug for that's listed in the resources? I don't see it mentioned in the instructions.

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